How to Avoid A Car Breakdown

Breakdown recovery Eastbourne wide, no matter how reasonable the price, can be an unexpected expense that throws your household budget into a spin. If you want to avoid the cost of having to pay for car or van recovery in Eastbourne, here are five ways you can keep on top of car maintenance to lessen the chances of something going wrong.

1.  Schedule frequent servicing

Your car’s manufacturer will advise you on how often your vehicle should be serviced. As a rough guide, this is usually once every twelve months or every 12,000 miles. Not only will this help prevent sudden problems, it will also identify small issues before they grow into larger, more expensive ones!

2.  Check your car’s fluid levels frequently

Make sure you keep on top of water and oil levels. You should check these at least every couple of weeks, and certainly before starting out on any journey that’s longer than usual. In winter, make sure you add anti-freeze regularly. It’s also worth noting that it’s illegal to drive without fluid in your car’s screen washer bottle. Although it won’t cause a breakdown if you have no screen wash, poor visibility can make an accident more likely!

3.  Keep your tyres legal

Check tyre pressure regularly and make sure that’s kept within the limits recommended by the manufacturer for your vehicle. Also keep an eye on the tread depth on each tyre, looking for uneven or excessive wear. The legal minimum is 1.6mm tread depth around the perimeter. Overly worn tyres reduce your car’s grip on the road and can increase the chances of an accident happening.

4.  Don’t ignore your dashboard lights

It may not feel, look or sound like anything’s wrong, but those dashboard lights are there for a reason! If a warning light comes on and stays on, it’s a reasonably good indicator that there is a problem. As mentioned above, it’s usually cheaper to get issues addressed at an early stage before they escalate and a part needs full replacement rather than repair.

5.  Keep your battery charged – or change it

A flat battery is one of the main causes of breakdowns in the UK. You can check your battery strength by watching the indicator on the dashboard on some recent models. Batteries function less well in winter because of the cold, so if you’re having trouble getting your car started morning after morning, ask your garage to test the battery to see if it needs replacing. The average car battery lasts between five and seven years, so if you’ve had your car this long without fitting a new one, it’s well worth considering replacing it.

If you do suffer a breakdown, however, you need a reliable service for recovery of your vehicle. Why not try ARS Recovery? Operating throughout the Eastbourne area and across a 30 mile radius, including the towns of Hailsham and Polgate, we’ll be there when you need us. We work 24/7. We also deal with scrap cars in Eastbourne and beyond, if it comes down to it!